Another glorious summer day here, after a good weekend. We spent much of yesterday having a clear-out stall at the car boot sale. Which, I have to say, was largely a complete waste of time as folk weren't really buying and the lesser stuff of my junk room interested them not one jot! I normally have good sales from baking and selling a couple of cakes by the slice (people always get hungry) but typically, a baker had set up a stall by the market buildings and had mopped up all the sales! I had lots of perennial plants which had spread/self-seeded themselves around the garden and rather than just put them all in the compost, I potted them up, labelled them and took them along but only sold 4. The world and his wife had the same idea. You could see it was going to be One Of Those Days!
Eventually I had a Bigger Sale, of a beautiful crochet bed throw from my Antiques Fair stock which I sold for what I had originally paid for it - I must admit that orange/green/white is not everyone's colour scheme. However, by then I had noticed that a neighbouring stall had two pallet collars which you use in the garden for making raised beds and they were just what I needed for my new veg. plot so I coughed up for those.
It was not an entirely pointless day though because although we hardly sold anything (took about £40 overall), I did manage to buy well for my next big Fair as there was a fellow dealer there who travels to France regularly and she had some interesting bits of French kitchenalia which I bought from her, so although we came home out of pocket, we had something to show for it.
Meanwhile, back in the garden, whilst I have been trying to stay indoors a bit more (hah, that didn't work yesterday did it?!) . . . An area which used to be wall to wall Monbretia - now with a bit more variety. I love the Mulleins and would like more.
Meanwhile, the path along the paddock plot has had to be abandoned until the grasses there have gone to seed. Needless to say, the sun and heavy rain showers have brought about a spectacular growth of grass . . .
The path is nearly invisible now. It happens every year, and because I won't use chemicals to kill the grass, I plod on and weed by hand in July. Once the pollen has gone over.
As for the masks. Ah yes. The expensive respiratory one (£25 worth) has gone back, and a refund requested as by the time they get a smaller one back to me, I shan't need it this summer. It might work well if you are a cyclist with Big Ears but I am a walker with Small Ears and the damnty thing wouldn't stay on because it is held in place by ear loops alone. Nope - design fault there. You need the option of a back-of-the-head band. I also bought some other ones for pottering in the garden but they are only of use if you aren't moving/breathing deeply as they get SO HOT. Plus, they are Chinese and one has a rather oddball picture on it (I shan't go into details - but they obviously thought it was a laugh!) and I got a really odd look from Next Door's Estonian cowman the other day when I ventured too near the gate and he could obviously twig what the design was! We have another long journey one day this week, when I will have to have the A/C on or windows open on the car, so I am going to Boots today to see if I can find a lightweight pollen-proof alternative.
Today I am hoping that my other half will spring into action and put up the trellis we bought on Saturday to hide the oil tank. My purple clematis is growing at a rate of knots and will cover it in no time.
